Page 103 of Dreaming of Dawson

“I wondered whether you and Stevie used to kiss like that… in public? Is this something you’ve done before, or are you just doing it with me because of James, and what he did, and because you think you have a point to prove?”

“Man… that’s a lot of overthinking,” he said, shaking his head.

“Is it?”

“Yeah.” He moved closer, putting his hands on my waist. “But I’ll put your mind at rest, if you want.” He paused for breath, pulling me close to him, and lowering his voice. “Kissing you has nothing to do with either of our exes. Not really. Sure, I used to kiss Stevie occasionally, while we were working, but it wasn’t the same.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t need to kiss her like I need to kiss you. Just like I didn’t miss her when she wasn’t here. Not like I miss you. I’ve spent my entire morning looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until you’d get back here. I’ve been thinking about you every second, finding it hard to focus on anything other than you.”

“And you never did that with Stevie?”

“No.”

I moved a little closer to him, looking up into his eyes. “You don’t think that might be because this is all so new?”

“No. It’s because I love you…”

“You love me? Don’t you mean you’re in love with me?”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“Oh… sorry.”

He smiled. “It’s okay. What I was gonna say was, I love you, Macy… more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.”

I tried hard not to gasp, and bit my lip to hold it in. “D—Don’t say that if you don’t mean it.”

“I mean it, babe.”

He dipped his head then, and kissed me, harder than ever.

Later that night, when we went upstairs after a fairly quiet evening, I noticed my bags in Dawson’s bedroom and realized I still needed to unpack. I could have kicked myself for not coming up sooner. It wasn’t as though we’d been especially busy downstairs, and it wouldn’t have taken long. The same thing still applied. I knew I could unpack in no time at all… except I was tired by then.

“It can wait,” Dawson said, coming up behind me, his arms around my waist.

“No. I should do it now.”

“Why? I can do it in the morning, when you’ve gone to work.”

“Oh…” I spun around, looking up into his eyes. “I meant to tell you…”

“Tell me what?”

“I’ve changed my hours.”

“With Peony?”

“Yes. I’m gonna start at ten instead of nine.”

“So you’ll be working there for less time each day?”

“I will… but I’ll be working five days instead of four.” His face fell slightly, so I moved closer, putting my arms up on his shoulders, my fingers playing in his hair. “At least this way, we won’t have to rush out of bed in the mornings, and we’ll get to spend some time together.”

“You did it for us?”

“Of course I did.”

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